Joint Letter: Requesting urgent action towards UN human rights investigation in Bangladesh

Recent events have placed Bangladesh at a critical juncture. Hundreds are presumed to have been killed and thousands injured during the unprecedented crackdown on the ‘Bangla-Blockade’ quota-reform protests, with excessive use of force, between 15 July and 5 August 2024. These protests ultimately led to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s resignation on 5 August 2024. The UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, has pledged a UN-led investigation into the killing of protesters.

Soon after Sheikh Hasina resigned and left the country, tens of thousands of Bangladeshis celebrated the end of her rule. In some places, however, celebrations turned violent, with hundreds killed or injured as demonstrators engaged in reprisals against those perceived to have supported Hasina’s government.

An interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus has been sworn into office, but with communities divided, there are severe risks of further grave human rights abuses. Police have been targeted as reprisals for past violations, leading to the death of several police officers and vandalising of police stations. This has resulted in severe gaps in law enforcement and protection for minority groups and others facing violent attacks.

We therefore urge you to take immediate steps to ensure an independent investigation and accountability and to prevent further human rights violations by ensuring that the UN Human Rights Council:

• Establishes an independent mechanism with a comprehensive mandate to investigate, collect, store and analyse evidence and cooperate with credible and independent national and international bodies towards accountability about the July and August 2024 violent incidents and their root causes. The material scope of an investigation should encompass acts by all relevant actors, including security force abuses and violence against peaceful protesters by ruling party supporters during protests between 15 July and 5 August 2024, as well as attacks on minorities and perceived Awami League supporters in the aftermath of Sheikh Hasina’s resignation on and after 5 August;
• Mandates a comprehensive monitoring and reporting process on the situation in Bangladesh by the newly-established independent mechanism and/or the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights throughout the interim government’s transition period, with regular updates to the Council;
• Through these entities, monitor whether the Bangladeshi authorities comply with their obligation under international human rights law to impartially, independently, and effectively investigate any person reasonably suspected of criminal responsibility for crimes under international law and other serious human rights abuses and to ensure that alleged perpetrators are brought to justice through fair trials without recourse to the death penalty;
• Supports the establishment of a national independent accountability mechanism that operates in accordance with international standards, accounting for violations prior to July 2024, including but not limited to enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and torture with a capacity for truth-telling and reparations;
  
• Supports the interim government in urgently strengthening its legal and judicial capacity to investigate crimes under international law and gross human rights violations and ensure the complete independence of legal and judicial bodies, including an effective national human rights commission in line with the Paris Principles.

Signatories:

1. Amnesty International
2. Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN)
3. Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD)
4. Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
5. Capital Punishment Justice Project (CPJP)
6. CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
7. Fortify Rights
8. Human Rights Watch
9. The International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP)
10. International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
11. International Organization for Transitional Justice and Peace (ITJPSL)
12. Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
13. World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT).